Academic Senate Agenda – February 8, 2004 – Attachment B
QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE
of The City University of New York
Report of the President
to the
Academic Senate
February 8, 2005
First, I want to express my deep appreciation for the outpouring of good wishes you bestowed upon
me and Pat during my recuperation from surgery. Knowing that you were thinking of me gave me
additional strength to work even harder at my physical therapy so as to return to normalcy as soon
as possible. We have a lot of work ahead of us.
I am delighted to welcome Trustee Susan O’Malley to our campus. The University Faculty Senate is
an important voice in the University, and I believe that Dr. O’Malley represents the CUNY faculty
well. We appreciate her taking time from her very busy schedule to come to our meeting.
Also, I want to extend a very warm welcome to the newest members of our College community and
to wish them a long and happy tenure at our great institution: Anissa Mack, Art & Photography;
John Imhof, Mechanical Engineering Technology and Design Drafting; Arturo O-Farrill, Music;
Kam Tim Ou, Social Sciences; Maryellen Lo Bosco, Academic Advisement; Susan Edwards,
Academic Affairs; William Faulkner, Finance and Administration.
As you know, the Governor’s recommended budget presents a difficult picture for CUNY
community colleges. As of this moment, we are not quite sure of the impact of the budget on
Queensborough Community College, but I can assure you that we will have to work very hard in a
coordinated effort helping our representatives in the Senate and the Assembly and the City Council.
We need to have a consistent message and very clear priorities to help our friends minimize the
effect of a difficult operating budget on our College. We have been here before and we will do it
again.
Clearly, effective communication is the key to our success. More than ever, our strategic plan
provides us with a guide for our actions. As we develop the 2004-05 strategic priorities, we must
keep in mind that all the desired objectives may not be attained. Therefore, it is of the utmost
importance that the plan truly reflects the collective thinking or our college community. Open
hearings for the college community will be held on April 15 and April 18. Additionally, I will meet
with representative focus groups of HEOs, Chairpeople, and students prior to the open hearings.
Please every effort to attend as many of the hearings as you can. Make your voices heard so that the
College Advisory Planning Committee members can have your input as they help me formulate the
priorities that will guide our actions (and our budget allocations) during the difficult year ahead.
Clearly, if we end up receiving less money per student and if we want to maintain our revenue
stream constant, we must increase the number of students that we serve. At the same time, I am
aware that our current schedule is pretty full. Therefore, I am asking Vice President McColloch to
work with the Academic Department Chairs and with Vice President Hartigan to see how we can
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Academic Senate Agenda – February 8, 2004 – Attachment B
bolster enrollment in the evening hours and on weekends. We know that there is room to grow in
these areas, but we need to provide the appropriate services in conjunction with expanded hours.
Also, we know that it is easier to retain a currently enrolled student than to recruit a new one. For
this reason, I am asking Vice President Hartigan to roll out the Relationship Manager Program, to
continue refining the Academic Advisement Program and to move the campus toward a paperless
environment using Tiger mail. I am convinced that effective student services are key to better
retention at open admissions colleges.
Queensborough Community College continues to be a leader in community college education. As
leaders, we have the responsibility to ensure that our findings are shared with the rest of the
academic community. This is a major focus of CETL, and it is my hope that this year we can see
the beginning of the study of applied research in community college pedagogy, under the auspices of
CETL. We can begin small and we can begin by pooling our existing resources. I believe that we
can get some funding for this in the future and with that funding, we will be able to contribute to
the literature on community colleges.
I wish you all a great semester.
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